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Military bases are among the most important tools of governmental policy for both foreign and domestic affairs. Bases provide housing, storage, command, and logistical infrastructure for military forces and can be used to project power at home and abroad.

As embodiments of governmental policy, they have a significant influence on the politics of local governments, and their placement, expansion, and removal can be extremely contentious. (For example, the U.S. Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission of 1988 to 2005 faced a variety of congressional hearings, petitions, and civic involvement to influence its closures of hundreds of U.S. military bases.) Though in ancient and medieval times, military infrastructure was often built and controlled by local cities and nobles to mitigate influence by national governments, in the modern ...